Masters of Scale Why CEOs need to think more like athletes, with investor Byron Deeter
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Apr 16, 2026 
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Trigo Built Cloud Software Before The Market Believed
- Byron Deeter founded Trigo in 2000 around cloud software when most VCs rejected the model as economically broken.
- Conviction came from customer pain, and adoption turned when tough enterprise buyers like Staples publicly vouched that the product worked.
Use Demanding Customers As Design Partners
- Seek the hardest, smartest customers first and let them pressure-test the product.
- Byron Deeter used demanding design partners to surface flaws early, then turned their references into a low-cost customer acquisition engine.
Raise Early So Macro Shocks Do Not Kill You
- Plan for multiple macro cycles and never let the market sink an otherwise good company.
- Byron Deeter raised early at Trigo, kept buffer, and used layoffs and pullbacks to buy time during the dot-com crash.